Prince Charles is in the firing line over an environmental tour on a private jet that is expected to leave a 322-tonne carbon footprint.
Prince Charles is in the firing line over an environmental tour on a private jet that is expected to leave a 322-tonne carbon footprint.
The Prince will use his journey to South America next month to focus on environmental sustainability and
|
|
Hypocrisy: Prince Charles |
climate change. But he and his 14-person entourage including Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will travel on a luxury plane with a VIP lounge, master suite, satellite phone, printer, fax and luxury leather seats.
Prince Charles's aides claimed the trip would be impossible without a private jet and said he would offset his carbon emissions.
But Labour MP Ian Davidson said the choice of transport was "absurd". "It would be hard to make this up... At a time when the greed of bankers is causing much adverse comment, I would have thought that Prince Charles would have had more sense than to be so financially and ecologically wasteful."
The Prince's deputy private secretary, Clive Alderton, said Charles was mindful of the cost of the trip u00a3300,000 (Rs 2 crore) and had sought advice from the Government, which said it wanted him to make the journey because of the importance of the issues it would address.
"We looked at all available options of travel, but the impracticability of moving around the region on unscheduled flights meant that we had to take the charter option."
